After all is said and done
by SailorVenusYaten
Summary: An alternate twist on what happened between Moose and Camille on the rooftop in Step Up All In. Camille thinks it's about time she rediscovers who she is as a person without that one person she lives. They run into each other a few years later...
1. Chapter 1

"Camille?"

Moose had rushed back to Los Angeles within the same night. It was probably around 1am at night. But he couldn't just stay in Vegas while thinking his girlfriend was super mad at him. He had to find her. He needed to explain to her what just happened. When he figured she wasn't going to answer any of his calls or texts, he jumped on the next possible flight back to LA.

He walked towards the light switch in the corridor, "You home?" and dropped his bag on the floor. He flipped the switch and looked around the apartment. He realized that there were no actual signs of Camille or her luggage. He didn't even think she came back to the apartment. He put his hands to his face, thinking to himself, fuck.  
It took him a second to realize that there was another place she could possibly be.

_The terrace roof of the apartment._

As he made it to the door, he wished super badly, that she was standing on the other side of the door. At the same time, he was afraid to face her.

He cheated.

Even if he didn't initiate that kiss with the girl from the bachelorette party, he still danced with her.

It looked a whole lot worse than it sounded.

The worst part of it all was that he didn't feel bad. He was just surprised that he was kissed all of a sudden. When he felt the stare of someone intensely watching him, he glanced over and saw her standing there with his grandparents. Camille.

She had come all the way out there to support him and surprise him. The first thing she saw after thinking about him for days since he left, was him dancing on the bar, and entertaining the people in the bar area.

He shined. He was a natural. It was his God-given gift to dance that way he did.

The crowd at the bar loved him, even the guy he borrowed the hat from, again.

For a second, Camille felt a slight sting to her heart.  
She envied Moose for being able to do what he loved. He never really gave up dancing even when he said he did. She didn't even know how to say hi to him. Camille felt small and lost, while Moose danced around the crowd.

When he danced that way with that girl, her heart took a tumble. But then she had to cruelly witness that blonde bombshell kiss him, it felt like her heart had fallen into her stomach. It was the most horrible and sickly feeling in the world. She never experienced jealousy in this sort of way.

Moose hadn't seen her sad and hurt expression, he just saw the one where he knew his ass was gonna get kicked. He saw her angry and jealous look.

Camille couldn't run out of that Casino fast enough. She ran to the front of the hotel entrance and hauled her ass into a taxi.

For the first time in a while, Camille didn't feel like she belonged there. She didn't feel like she could keep up with him. He was just so amazing and passionate about dancing, and she would just settle for an apartment and a safe career. She didn't feel like she could think bigger.

She wasn't aware that Moose had chased right after her. All she knew was that she felt extremely sick to her stomach and just wanted to be out of his sight. Camille could have just called out to him while he was dancing, but she felt her presence would bother his show. She didn't want to look at him and she didn't want him to look at her. She felt embarrassed.

_"I missed dancing, but I'd have to say I missed you even more."_  
_"Really?"_  
_"really, really."_

_I love him._ I love him **so much**. But I don't feel like I belong with him.  
Tears rolled down her cheeks within an instant.

They wouldn't stop forming, and they just kept falling.

He walked up towards her. "I knew I'd find you up here."  
She turned around surprised. She didn't expect to see him so soon after she left Las Vegas in a hurry.

Moose walked towards Camille and stood a foot faced away from her. "Look, I know you're probably, like, super uber galactically pissed at me right now, but I'm really sorry. And I don't know how I let that happen." He said what he wanted to say. All he could do now was wait and see what her response and thoughts were going to be.

Camille couldn't stop staring at him until she lowered her view and clasped her hands together.

The air around them began to feel eerie which made Moose feel more uncomfortable.

"Camille, please say something."

The pregnant pause had ended after a good twenty seconds.  
"I thought about it the whole way back. What I was going to say when you found me." She took a deep breath in and let it out.

"Baby-"

She stopped him by touching his arm, "Seeing you dance there and with that girl, you were just having the best time. You were shining. I couldn't even call out to you because I didn't feel that I belonged there. I wasn't just jealous of that girl, I was jealous of you."

Camille was being so honest with him that her voice began to shake, and her eyes began to form tears.

"I think reality finally came crashing down on me."

Moose stood still and continued to listen to Camille even though he had absolutely no idea where this conversation was actually going.

"I don't belong with you." That's when her voice began to crack from crying.

"What? Baby, no, that's not true! Hey, hey, look at me! We're together because we love each other. We trust each other. We support each other! Please don't say we don't belong together." At the point, Moose began to feel his voice shaking too.

"I can't keep up with you. I don't feel like I can be around you when you dance like that. You're a star. You always were, and yeah, we have a nice apartment and we both have jobs and new life here, but it's not the life you really want, is it?"

Moose tried to stop her from confessing her feelings because hearing them hurt him most of all. To know this is what she felt for the last few years, and yet-she never told him. His throat felt all clogged up and stopped him from moving.

Soon after moving to LA, Camille realized that Moose wasn't ecstatic about living in LA, it was a nice change of scenery, the beach, the waves, but she realized he would much rather dance his heart out than stick to his day job.

"I love you, Moose. I always will. But I need time to figure out who I am without you."  
Her breathing became uneven, and her body was almost shaking from holding her tears in.

"Camille. You want us...to break up?" Moose's expression had gone from guilty to darkly angry within a few minutes.

"I think we need some space from each other. I don't...I don't think we know who we are without each other. We went to high school together, attended the same university, graduated from the same school. We got our degrees and moved in together right out of college. We've lived here for almost a year now and-"

"We settled down and started our new life together!" he intervened. "Camille, people don't just move in together! We love each other, don't we? I love you, Camille. Please Cami-"

"you settled, and I just let you." She said.

Moose turned his back to her and rubbed his eyes. He didn't even want to turn around to face her because he felt like crying his eyes out, and he didn't want her to witness that.

"Look, I want you to follow your dreams and dance your heart out. I still want you to win this competition. If you guys win, you're finally going to dance professionally and get paid for it. Not many people can get to do that. Three years..is a long time, and seeing that we're not going to be together-I just think it can finally help you focus on your dancing. The life and career you truly want."

Camille looked up and hoped he would face her, or just say something. She walked over to where he was standing and laid her hand gently on his shoulder.

He walked away avoiding her touch, "fine, go." He said as coldly and heartless as can be.

Camille didn't expect his reaction, "Moose, I'm sorry." He turned around and looked at her cool and reservedly.

"Yeah, I heard you, Camille. I make one mistake, and you want to break up because you think we can be different people when we're not together. That we can become more mature and our own person. I'm taking the next flight out tomorrow. You can collect your stuff while I'm gone. Or better yet, I'll move out since I'm going to win the competition in two days and I'm going to get that three-year gig. I won't be needing an apartment in LA anyways. So you can just keep it."  
He began walking towards the door to the staircase. When he took one last look at her and said, "You know what, I hope it's all worth it this whole-finding-yourself-and-becoming-your-own-person crap. Because in a way Camille, you're right. You always held me back."

Those words pierced her through. Her mouth couldn't even close upon the shock of his words. She never knew Moose could be this mean and hurtful even if he didn't mean it. Moose was the nicest person in the world. It just wasn't like his character to act this way.

As he went downstairs, he said just loud enough, "I'll take the couch tonight. You won't see me in the morning."

Like that, his voice echoed out through the hallway staircase, as the door to the terrace roof shut itself.

[6:00am]

The alarm on Moose's iPhone rung, as the person sleeping on the couch, had to throw his arm towards the coffee table to turn it's blaring sound off.  
Moose had just woke up from the nasty nightmare that wasn't a dream, it had actually happened just a few hours ago upstairs. So many things had happened over the span of one day. LMNTRIX had won the elimination round and then the crew went out to enjoy the wonders that Las Vegas had to offer. The only thing that went wrong that day was when he decided to dance on top of that bar. When he grabbed the attention of the bargoers and the bridal party whores.

A day before the round, he was just constantly texting his other half, updating her on what was going on with the dance competition, he felt bad enough Camille couldn't come with them, so he wanted to keep her informed as much as possible. That would make him feel like Camille was actually there with them. After the dance round, he had forgotten to text Camille, and he didn't see any messages from her, so he had decided to leave it at that.

He needed to focus on the competition.

He had no idea that the girl who he was dancing with like a flirt would kiss him.

He had no idea that his girlfriend of five years would show up and surprise him with his grandparents. Moose felt like an idiot all over again.

Now he had no girlfriend since she had just broken up with him like a few hours ago, and his livelihood depended on whether his crew would win the Vortex competition.

A few minutes had passed, that's when he had finally decided to rise up and start getting ready for his flight back to Nevada. First, he had to grab a few t-shirts since he had no idea how long he was going to be there after the competition would end.

He entered the room in which Camille was sleeping in. She appeared to be sleeping with her back facing Moose.

He looked at her for a few seconds wondering whether he should wake her up and say something or just leave a note near her bedside table. Unknown to him, Camille had heard his alarm go off and was pretending to be asleep, just to avoid him. She barely slept and cried most of the time to herself. This is what she should've expected, she wished for a break, and Moose felt betrayed by her ability to convey her feelings towards him.

"Cam..." he mumbled to himself as if he was afraid to say her name any louder.

"Camille, I'm going now." Moose had a slight feeling she was awake because he too felt pretty crappy about the way he left things.  
Moose stared at her for a few seconds hoping she would react even just a little. When she didn't respond, he assumed she was sincerely sleeping, and presumed to grab a few spares of clothes.

After he was done packing, he headed towards the living room, "bye Moose" Camille softly said, it was loud enough for Moose to hear. It stopped Moose in his tracks as he glanced over to her laying on the bed, only this time her face was facing him. Their eyes made complete contact for those few seconds that felt like forever. Her eyes were strained and puffy-looking from all the crying. In just those few seconds they both looked like they regretted everything that had just happened.

"Bye Cam."

They owed it to each other to at least acknowledge the fact that they were now broken up and separating for good.


	2. Chapter 2

_November 2017_

Vegas was all about letting loose and going all the way. Putting in all your money, hoping to win some bonus, no matter how small it was.

About three years ago, LMNTRIX won the Vortex battle. They were promised three whole years of a paid dancing gig in Las Vegas. Life could never be boring.

In Moose's case, every single day was about dancing. His life in Vegas was great. It was truly never boring. Every day after a show, LMNTRIX would go bar-diving or spend the rest of their night at nightclubs partying hard as dancers normally do.

He was scheduled to dance 6 days a week. His contract with Caesars Palace was about to expire within about 2 months.

They had a good run, dancing for almost three whole years and getting paid for it. The best gig a dancer could wish for.

He would gamble money at times but only with his crew. Getting drunk was a weekly reoccurrence after some months of living there.

Loosely morale women would throw themselves at the crew after scheduled performances. Moose would have a few one-night stands in a year when he wasn't dating someone seriously.

It's not like he couldn't seriously date someone, he just wanted to feel some sort of connection to his significant other. He hadn't felt that sort of attachment to any of the girls he dated since you know who.

Every new year's eve, he would just have a random girl on his shoulder for the countdown kiss.

Sometimes the holidays felt pretty lonely to him. It's not like the crew didn't feel like family, only he wanted that one person there right next to him that he could call his family. His work contract included holidays. He only got random weeks of the year to visit family. The last few months of the year were especially hard on him. Whenever Thanksgiving was near, he would feel homesick, knowing it was soon time for 'the' holidays.

Moose was drinking his lunch at one of the bars nearby the venue after their rehearsal for tonight's show. "Ayyy Moose!"

Moose looked up from his glass of beer, "Yo Monster! What's up!"

"Hey man, didn't you get the text?" He showed Moose his phone's screen.

"Nah man, my phone is the room. What did it say?"

"Eddy texted everyone. He said that the manager of the entertainment staff wanted us to drop by after the show for the bachelorettes pre-party."

"Aren't there already men for that sort of entertainment?" This made Monster giggle a bit.

"Yeah, I know, but like, I guess they saw us last night dancing and they want us to drop by and make them feel special. It's nothing too serious, I think."

"Yeah, sure. What time?" He didn't care much for going, but it was another chance to show off some of his moves.

"9ish. Oh, and Moose, no hooking up with any strangers."

"Yeah, yeah...you're so funny." Moose returned his attention to his drink.

_9:45pm_

Moose took a look at the clock on his iPhone while getting ready.

'I guess I can head downstairs now', he took one more look in the mirror and made sure his hair didn't look too crazy. He used to have cute curly hair but as the years went by, he had begun straightening his hair for the daily performances. He lost his curls but his hair was still wavy as ever. He kept patting down the side of his strands. He had some facial hair from not shaving the last few weeks.

Making his way towards the venue that was agreed upon for the special party, he showed the bouncer outside the club his worker badge. When he walked inside the venue, the club was redecorated with the bride-to-be memorabilia. It was too pink for his taste. He noticed the bridal party toasting the bride-to-be with tequila shots and it didn't look like it was their first round. Not even the second round. Maybe the third one.

As he scanned the dance floor area, he noticed his boys were prepping up their dance performance for the party. A few members of the crew were chatting up the bachelorette party. Moose had spotted Sean and Eddy talking on the sidelines. "Yo are we going to dance with them or what? I thought our sole purpose was to make them feel as if they were having the time of their lives", he commented most sarcastically. Sean nodded his head, "I think they're shy or just embarrassed, whenever I try to say something to them, they kind of look away or avoid me."

"Did you try...dancing? Those moves you do every night on stage still make me cringe up every once in a while." Jason stuck his input in there.

"funny, really funny, dude." Sean grabbed a cookie from the dessert table and playfully threw one in Jason's direction, nearly dodging it. "Don't hate, women love me."

"as in your mom, right?" Eddy added.

The members surrounding joined in the laughter. "Why you gotta go there? Hey DJ, plug this in!" Jason handed his cellphone to the DJ at the mixing table.

Within seconds, the atmosphere of the club reignited and most eyes were on Jason popping his muscles out to the music of "Snap Yo Fingers" by LIL JON. The song got the ladies' attention. Most of the crew seem to join in the dancing and the bridal party followed. Moose loved music like this, he unleashed some of his current moves earning him the attention of most of the bridal party. He didn't dislike the attention, it meant for great tips and bed buddy later on the night. He was extremely popular with the ladies cause he never even looked like he was trying. The bridal party ended up showing their true nature and not the innocent dow eyed look they were giving the boys a few minutes ago. Some of them were even grinding upon each other. When the song had ended, the DJ threw some of Nelly's single hits in there, "Hot In Here". Now there was some serious dancing going on, some even couples began forming up. Moose never liked playing the game too easily, he was in it for the chase. He loved the types of girls who would play hard to get. Moose wasn't in the much of a mood to have some horny bridesmaid grind upon him, so he ventured out of that area and noticed one of the bridal party members sitting by the bar drinking a martini.

She wore a strapless navy blue cocktail dress that hugged her curves. Her backside was visible to everyone. Only a few of her dark brown curls were covering it. Her ankles were complemented by the black strip platforms that looked comfortable enough.

So what was the problem, he thought to himself. Why wasn't she dancing?

He assumed she was probably one of those shy ones since she wasn't participating at all. She was the type that needed to be gestured over or pursued onto the dance floor. After a few minutes of nonchalantly spying on her, he walked on over to grab a quick drink. He sat down on the stool beside her, "if you like martinis, you should try his lemon drop, they're pretty popular with women."

Moose couldn't see her face because she was completely facing the bar. He hoped that by talking to her she would at least look at him. He didn't want to seem too eager to her unless she had continued the conversation with him.

She glanced at him for a second after realizing he was trying to make small talk with her.

"Thank you-...Moose?" At the sound of his name, he jerked his head over to her. It was his ex-girlfriend and former best friend, Camille.

He could hardly recognize her now.

Her bangs had grown out and now rested on the sides of her cheeks. Her hair was darker and flowed down her chest, all long and wavy. She had her hair professionally styled in loose curls. She was wearing way more makeup than he had ever seen her wear before.

She looked very different from when he last saw her.

They had stayed friends on social media, but never exchanged words online with each other. Moose wasn't on social media as much as he used to be growing up, soon they fell out of contact the moment they split up.

"Camille? Wha-what are you doing here?"

"a friend of mine is getting married. She's the one wearing the white veil." She pointed at the bride-to-be who was drunk and dancing like a total maniac.

"I didn't know you were friends with her."

"yeah, the other bridesmaids are also my close friends. We all went to grad school together."

"Right, congrats on your master's degree." Moose was doing all he can to make this awkward situation less awkward.

"Thanks." She took a sip of her martini, "I take it you won the competition." Camille gestured at the rest of the crew dancing and having a good time.

It took Moose a second to figure out what she meant because he was so anxious about meeting her like this out of nowhere.

"uh...yeah! But that was ages ago. Our three years are almost up."

He began to just stare at her as she drank her martini all grown up like.

The Camille he knew could barely finish a fruity cocktail nonetheless a vodka martini with one olive.

She felt his eyes watching her, "so are you and the guys like male escorts now? What's all that about?" she turned her whole body to face him.

At this point, they were making a hundred percent eye contact, and their bodies were so close to touching because of the way they were sitting on the stools facing each other.

"haha no, we're not. Sometimes this happens." Camille was secretly checking him out, seeing what was different about him. She began admiring parts of him that she'd never really noticed up until now.

He had a beard. He would always shave when he and Camille lived together. His acne had cleared up.

His curls had straightened out at the ends too. His body wasn't as ripped as it was before, which meant he probably didn't care for exercising as much now either.

His style had matured and he wasn't wearing shorts as before. No beanies, instead he sported a designer label's hat.

His eyes looked like he hasn't slept in days.

"your hotel asks you to show up at bachelorette parties and give the girls a good time?"

"yup, pretty much. But we get paid for this shit. So it doesn't matter that much to me. There's a bar that's been paid for, and we get to dance all night."

"wow, you've... changed. I don't mean it in a bad way. I just mean that a lot of time has passed."

"People change. In my case, I grew up."

"Don't you ever get tired of Vegas though?"

"all the time. I don't hang out that much near the strip, I usually head out to the outskirts. It gets too touristy sometimes. At first, I loved it. But after some time the slot machine sounds started to piss me the fuck off."

Moose and Camille both took sips of their drinks.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you're here. You always hated the party scene. Vegas is that, and a whole lot more."

"I changed too, alright...I made some good friends when I decided to go back to school, and well those friends introduced me to the nightlife of LA."

The conversation between the two former lovers and best friends became more seldom, but the noise of the music began to irritate them both.

"You wanna get out of here?" Moose suddenly asked her.

At first, Camille thought Moose was asking her to go out with him, so she was about to decline his offer.

"I meant, like around the mall of the casino. It's getting harder to talk with all the music and smoke."

"I can't really leave, Moose, I'm here with my friends."

Moose jumped off the stool and one-shotted the rest of his drink in a second. "They're too busy, getting down with the guys, they won't notice."

Camille looked over towards the dance floor and contemplated on whether to accept or decline her ex-boyfriend's offer of walking around Vegas with him at night. She had to decide then and there what she was going to do.

"Okay." She took a few more sips of her martini which was almost already finished. He lent out his hand to her so she could easily come down from the barstool.

Camille took his gesturing hand and hopped off the stool.

Like that, two former lovers left the night club and headed out towards the exit together.


End file.
